12-year-old Niniko`s story is illustrative of one of the main hurdles First Step Georgia strives to overcome: parents' inability to keep a child with special needs at home due to lack of financial and social support.

Niniko has an intellectual disability, epilepsy and cerebral palsy. In 2003, when Niniko was 6, her mother, overwhelmed by the strain of caring for her daughter, placed her in Kaspi State Institution.

However, due to First Step Georgia’s intervention Niniko was back with her mother within 6 months.   With First Step Georgia`s support Niniko underwent a series of operations to improve her mobility, she gets regular physical rehabilitation therapy and is observed by a neurologist. She goes to the Day Care Centre and the organisation hired a full-time caregiver to support Niniko and her family. Her mother is overjoyed to have her daughter home again.   Caring for a child with severe disabilities is a challenge which few parents can manage alone.  

HELP FIRST STEP GEORGIA TO KEEP MORE CHILDREN LIKE NINIKO WITH THEIR FAMILIES.

• Just  $9.69 per day supports 1 child who has been returned from Kaspi to his or her family.
• Just $57 per month pays for 1 child`s physical rehabilitation, including transportation to rehabilitation facilities. 

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Home-based Care Programme in action

The home-based care programme works with families taking care of children with special needs and brings several First Step Georgia services direct to the beneficiaries at home. These children have disabilities too severe to allow them to attend school at all, or on their own.

They benefit from First Step Georgia’s medical expertise; social workers and psychologists advise and consult with the families to help them keep their children at home. First Step Georgia provides dedicated caregivers for several children with special needs living at home, allowing their parents to hold down a job. Caregivers bring some of these young people to school.

• 14-yr-old Khatia used to communicate only through gestures but has learned to speak with First Step’s support. $7 pays for one session with a speech therapist for a child living at home
• 12-yr-old Iralki cannot walk, feed himself or go to the toilet on his own. $11 a day pays a trained caregiver to take care of children like Irakli so that their parents can earn a living and cope better with the challenges of bringing up a child with special needs.
• Just $18 dollars a month pays for a social worker to support a family with a child with profound special needs.

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